Toothpaste ejector toothbrush



Dec. 22, 1970 J. 5. CASSELMAN 3,549,263

TOOTHPASTE EJECTOR TOOTHBRUSH Filed July 14, 1969 AT TORNEYI United States Patent Oflice 3,549,258 Patented Dec. 22, 1970 3,549,268 TOOTHPASTE EJECTOR TOOTHBRUSH James S. Casselman, 8232 E. Coolidge, Scottsdale, Ariz. 85251 Filed July 14, 1969, Ser. No. 841,218 Int. Cl. A4611 11/02 US. Cl. 401--154 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A toothbrush having a toothpaste supply in the handle which may be selectively fed to the bristles by rotating a control knob at the end of the handle, the supply of toothpaste being contained in a throwaway plastic bag container twisted to discharge its contents to the brush bristles.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention pertains to a toothbrush, and is more particularly directed to a toothpaste ejector toothbrush having its own supply of paste in the handle.

Heretofore, self-feeding toothbrushes having paste supply devices associated with the handle, were complicated in construction and unsanitary in use. The supply of paste was carried in special difficult to attach and manipulate containers. Standard toothpaste tube configurations could be directly applied to the brush, but could not be handled in a way comfortable to the use of the brush in cleaning the teeth. Further, former supply devices were stiff and heavy requiring complicated mechanisms to discharge the paste when connected to the toothbrush.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION One of the objects of this invention is to provide a toothpaste ejector toothbrush which has a hollow handle in which is placed a container of paste having a conven tional toothpaste tube of standard configuration and to twist the tube within the handle to discharge its contents into the brush bristles.

Another object of this invention is to provide a selffeeding toothbrush in which a lightweight toothpaste container of flexible plastic material having substantially the standard configuration of conventional toothpaste tube now in use, is inserted in the toothbrush handle and twisted by a ratchet mechanism to feed desired quantities of material to the brush bristles, the ratchet mechanism also providing the closure for loading and unloading the emptied supply tube from the toothbrush.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view of a toothbrush structure incorporating the features of this invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view on the line 33 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view on the line 44 of FIG. 2.

FIG. 5 is a view, partly broken away, showing the material container and actuating ratchet mechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The toothpaste ejector toothbrush comprises a main connector having a threaded outer end 11 to which is demountably attached the brush support feed tube 12 on the outer end of which is demountably secured the brush element 13 by suitable dovetail guide means 14. Suitable passageways 15 in the brush element 13 and the passageways 16 in the brush support feed tube 12 communicate with the discharge passageway 17 in the threaded end of the connector 10.

The connector 10 has an enlarged end 18 having appropriate finger grip knurling 19 and a large internal threaded bore 20 adapted to receive the threaded end 21 of the tubular handle and paste tube container 22 arranged to receive the toothpaste tube 23. The threaded discharge end 24 of the tube 23 is received in the threaded bore 25 of the connector 10- and is adapted to seal against the tapered surface 26 of connection 10 so that the discharge passageway 27 of the tube 23 communicates with passageway 17 of the connector 10 and thus with the brush bristles 13 through passageways 15 and 16.

The other end of the tubular handle 22 is provided with an external thread 28 to which is demountably threadedly mounted the ratchet nut 29 having ratchet teeth 30 with their radially disposed ratchet surfaces 31 facing in a right hand or clockwise direction, FIG. 3, of screwing the ratchet nut onto the threads 28 of the tubular handle 22. The ratchet nut 29 has a lip 33 which abuts the end 34 of the tubular handle 22 when the ratchet nut 22 has been screwed home on the tubular handle 22.

A manually rotatable ratchet wheel 35 with appropriate finger grip knurling 36 has an inturned radial flange 37 having a bore 38 revolving on the outside diameter of the tube 22 adjacent the threads 28. The other end of the ratchet wheel 35 has an integral disc 38a and projecting inwardly of the tubular handle 22 from the center of the *disc is the integral shank 39 terminating in a bifurcated portion 40 forming a slot 41 arranged to fit over and grip a pin 42 which is inserted in the seal strip 42a of the toothpaste supply tube 23 so that when the ratchet wheel 35 is turned the tube will be twisted up, as shown in FIG. 5, to squeeze out the contents of the tube 23 out through passageways 27-17-16-15 to the brush 13.

A series of pawl elements 43 having latching surfaces 44 engaging ratchet surfaces 31 are formed within the bore 45 of the ratchet wheel 35. Preferably, the ratchet wheel 35 is formed of semiflexible plastic material having slots 35a formed therein so that the flange may be snapped over ratchet teeth 30 to the normal operating position shown in FIG. 2. Further, this flexibility allows the pawl pieces 43 to move radially outwardly to guide up over the ratchet teeth and latch behind the ratchet surfaces 31.

With the ratchet nut and ratchet wheel assembly 29-35 removed from the tubular handle, a toothpaste supply tube 23 is placed in the tubular handle 22. The assembly 29-35 is then installed with the bifurcated end 40 engaging and gripping the seal strip pin 42 of the supply tube 23. The assembly 29-35 is then started on the thread 28 on the tubular handle 22. The ratchet wheel is then manually rotated clockwise, FIG. 3, causing surfaces 45a to engage with suflicient pressure to screw discharge end 24 of the tube 23 into threaded bore 25 of the connector 10 and at the same time screw ratchet nut 29 on the threaded end 28 of the tubular handle 22. When these threaded connections 24-25 and 28-29 are brought up home, the flexible nature of the ratchet wheel 35 allows the pawl pieces to override the ratchet teeth 30 so that the ratchet wheel with its disc 38 and bifurcated end 40 can be further turned with a clicking action to twist up the tube 23, as at 47, FIG. 5, to discharge the toothpaste to the brush.

After the tube has been thus fully twisted up to empty its contents, the ratchet wheel may then be rotated coun terclockwise, FIG. 3, causing the pawl pieces 43 to positively lock against the ratchet nut teeth surfaces 31 so that the ratchet nut may be unscrewed form the threads 28 of the tubular handle and at the same time unscrew the exhausted tube end 24 from the threads 25. The exhausted tube is then disconnected from the bifurcated end 40 and discarded and a new tube 23 reinserted in the handle 22 as described.

(E) a flexible toothpaste tube having a threaded discharge end and a seal strip on the opposite end adapted to be placed 'within the hollow tubular handle,

(F) a threaded bore in the connectorto receive the threaded end of the toothpaste tube,

(G) and a tube twisting and discharge assembly demountably connected to the outer end of the tubular handle characterized by,

(H) a ratchet nut threadedly mounted on the tubular handleouter end,

(I) ratchet teeth on the outer perimeter of the ratchet nut,

(J) a ratchet wheel surrounding and rotatable on the ratchet nut,

(K) pawl pieces on the ratchet wheel operatively engaging the ratchet teeth,

(L) and a bifurcated end on the ratchet wheel projecting inwardly of the tubular handle engaging and gripping the seal strip of the flexible toothpaste tube so that turning the ratchet wheel twists the flexible toothpaste tube to discharge its contents into the toothpaste passageways.

2. A toothpaste ejector toothbrush as in claim 1 wherein radially disposed surfaces of the ratchet teeth face in the direction of rotation of screwing the ratchet nut on the tubular handle outer end.

3. A toothpaste ejector toothbrush as in claim 1 wherein yielding restraint of rotation is provided for the ratchet wheel relative to the ratchet nut in the direction of rotation of screwing the ratchet nut on the tubular handle end.

4. A toothpaste ejector toothbrush as in claim 1 wherein yielding restraint of rotation is provided for the ratchet wheel relative to the ratchet nut in the direction of rotation of screwing the ratchet nut on the tubular handle end 'while positive locking against rotation is provided between the ratchet wheel and the ratchet nut when the ratchet wheel is rotated in a direction to unscrew the ratchet nut from the tubular handle end.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,192,668 7/1916 Miles 401-154 2,562,937 8/1951 Morich 401 154 2,634,025 4/1953 Hausner 401-154 2,867,830 1/1959 Usdavin 401 154 FOREIGN PATENTS 997,188 9/1951 France 401 154 31,389 5/1885 Germany 401l54 LAWRENCE CHARLES, Primary Examiner 

